


Dreaming of the Stars

by TheMomeRath



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Innuendo, M/M, Peril, Space Colonization, Space Flight, Space Husbands, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 18:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4402361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMomeRath/pseuds/TheMomeRath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup and Jack are among the first humans to ever be a part of the establishment of a colony in space. Titan is their destination, but there are some stops in between, and the fact that neither of them have ever traveled like this before and that this is a first-ever journey-- well, there are bound to be complications.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreaming of the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt by kit-replica on tumblr- 
> 
> "au where they go to bed to dream and wake up in the stars where they belong"
> 
> It's probably not what he anticipated as a response, but it was what I decided it meant for me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The headlines on all the news programs had been broadcasting nonstop-- “Jupiter’s Moons to be Pioneered as Location for Space Settlements,” proclaimed one of the international stations, and all the others boasted similar titles. The tabloids were a little less informative-- “Explorer Community Searches For Alien Evidence-- IN SPACE!”

Of course, the full details couldn’t be completely exposed to the general public. Space settlement had been talked about for years and years, and the scientists in charge were not likely to simply release everything at once, especially with the clear opposition that certain groups seemed to have against extraterrestrial colonization. Of course, these groups likely posed no real threat, but great care was taken anyway to release only small details. Even the intended location of the settlement had been secret up until almost a week before the launch, when an excessively excited scientist from the team had allowed himself to become slightly inebriated while at a celebration.

Despite any of that, there had been no problems with working up to the launch. Candidates for the colony had been selected based on a highly secretive process, with names randomly drawn from the database of Norway’s tax registries who were then contacted for an interview process to see if they would be fit for space travel, and eventually, space colonization.

Hiccup would never have expected to get out of the country, let alone off the planet, yet he had been chosen as a candidate in one of the first rounds of candidate-seeking. Of course his husband Jack had also been chosen to accompany him, but Hiccup was marked as a prime candidate particularly because of his aptitude for design and architecture.

“The actual structure of the life-sustaining supports have been planned already, but it is very probable that an expansion of the colony will be necessary in the future,” the interviewer had said once the couple had agreed to join in the endeavour. “And, of course, we definitely will need people to become accustomed to the much lower gravity of Titan, so who else better to select than a physical trainer such as yourself, Jack?” He had pursed his lips and folded his hands on the desk that separated him from the pair. “I’m glad you’ve decided to accept. You’re helping pave the way for such wonderful advances in science!”

* * *

 

“Hic?” Jack’s ribcage vibrated against Hiccup’s ear with the sudden vocalization, causing the younger to lift his head from where he had been laying. “How soon do we get put under?”

“It’s not very long,” Hiccup promised. “They’ll be coming around just after to make sure everyone is secured and brought to a stable condition before the launch.” Jack snorted suddenly, and Hiccup frowned. “What’s so funny?”

“You sound like you’re reading that off a pamphlet or something.”

Hiccup gently shoved his husband with a smirk on his face. “It’s pretty much exactly what we were told before the launch, you know.”

“Well, still. You memorized it?” His bare chest heaved with silent laughter as he laid out on the near-flat bed of the padded stasis chamber. “You’re such a nerd.”

“Says the guy who pretty much memorized the entire script to Star Wars,” Hiccup shot back half-seriously. “You’re even wearing Star Wars underwear. On a spaceship.”

“That’s a fantastic movie series! This is just boring information.”

“Well, looks like my nerdiness helps us right now. Tell me the last time Star Wars actually helped me when I asked a question,” Hiccup challenged playfully.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Jack replied quickly.

“Wait, what? I trust you-- wait.” Hiccup rolled his eyes and sat up so he could stare directly at Jack’s face. “That was a quote, wasn’t it?”

“Search your feelings. You know it to be true!”

“Oh my god.” He sighed. “We’re almost in space, about to cross the solar system, and the one thing you can muster up is movie quotes.” The corners of his lips tilted upward. “This is exactly why I fell in love with you.”

Jack grinned. “What, my penchant for quoting classic sci-fi movies?”

“I’d call it more of an obsession… That, and the fact that you know when I need to relax.”

Hiccup leaned over Jack to kiss him quickly before leaning against him. “We’re living your dream, you know. You get to live all that sci-fi stuff.”

Jack shrugged the shoulder that his husband wasn’t resting his head on. “I suppose so. I’ll be pretty glad if we don’t face a lot of the stuff out there, though. I don’t need vicious aliens or perfect predators.”

“Don’t even bring it up--”

“You did it first.”

Hiccup sighed. “I’m going to miss you while we’re under.”

Jack shivered, likely a response to both the cold air against his bare skin and the harsh reminder that they wouldn’t speak to each other until they woke again. “Don’t say that.”

“I _am_ , though.”

“I know. But I don’t need to be reminded that I’m going to be asleep for six months.”

Hiccup winced. He wanted to correct that time frame, but… Jack didn’t need to be reminded that it would be more than a year before they were brought back out of stasis, and that even after two months of rehabilitation, they’d have to go back under for another year before they actually landed. “I guess not, huh?”

Jack exhaled heavily. “At least I get to stay next to you for the whole ride, right?”

“Definitely. We’re really lucky that they allowed us to stick together.” Out of all the couples who had been selected to participate on the endeavor, Jack and Hiccup had been one of the few whose vital stats had been close enough for them to be given a shared stasis chamber. “It’ll be nice to see you first thing.”

“Yeah.”

They stayed silent for a minute, the sounds of the crew preparing the ship for takeoff bouncing around the inner hull of the ship. Occasional bursts of air from the temperature regulation warmed their bare skin slightly, but the long hallway was mostly cold. They could hear individuals and couples spending their last few minutes awake on earth saying their goodbyes, and heard a few sounds that indicated quite a bit of affection on board. Luckily, barriers between each set of stasis chambers stopped them from really seeing much of the details.

Every so often, an announcement offered how much time remained until statis would be activated, and before long, an attendant came by the two of them to help secure them into their harnesses.

“You men ready for the trip of your lives?” the attendant said with a grin as Hiccup sat up and scooted closer to his harness. “It’s gonna be a blast. Like the biggest road trip ever, except no roads, and you get to sleep for the whole trip.”

“‘Sleep’ is a stretch,” Jack mumbled.

“Hey, don’t be that way, champ.” The worker laughed. “It’s just a space flight. We gotta keep you under so you don’t get sick when we do some of that hyper-travel stuff.”

“Hyper-travel… stuff?” Hiccup blinked. “You know, there’s a technical term for it.”

“Yeah, but that kind of mess scares people sometimes.” He shrugged. “Either way, you to say your goodnights now. I’ll turn around if you intend to get a little extra cuddly.” He winked. “Now’s your chance.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “No thanks.”

“Whatever suits you, mate,” he replied, turning around anyway.

Hiccup stared at the back of the man’s head incredulously. He was almost surprised by Jack’s face when it appeared in front of him.

“I don’t get to kiss you again for at least six months,” he whispered quietly, easing Hiccup back toward a reclined position. “So I’m making this one count.” He leaned in just a little further to connect their lips, a gentle hand under Hiccup’s chin while he did so.

Hiccup let out a tiny moan, and felt himself flush. Jack pulled his head away and grinned. “God, I can’t wait until we land.” He rolled off the top of his husband and positioned himself above the restraints. “We’re ready,” he said loudly for the attendant’s benefit.

“And you thought I was gonna watch,” the man laughed, turning around quickly. “All right, I’ll walk you through the procedure while I’m working. The main straps that we’re concerned about are these, the ones with the vitals sensors attached to them…”

Hiccup barely even paid attention to the rest of the man’s walkthrough. It was probably meant to ease his mind, but all he could think of was the travel up ahead.

Eventually, the man gave them a mock salute before closing the clear glass lid on the chamber. “Hey, Hic,” he heard Jack say just before the stasis gas started to flood the chamber. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

He tried to nod before he remembered his head was secured tightly, so he responded quietly. “Yeah.” It wasn’t necessary to say that there wasn’t morning or night on space, just light and dark, so he let it be. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He felt the gas slowly ushering him off to sleep, so he let himself be carried.

* * *

 

It was bizarre to wake up from such a long rest with no recollection of any kind of dreams. Not that it surprised Hiccup in the least, it made sense that since he was in stasis, he wouldn’t be able to dream at all. Maybe it was a side effect of artificial sleep. Or maybe he'd just forgotten.

Either way, the one complaint he might have had when he woke was that he didn’t feel well-rested. Instead, he felt extremely groggy. That would have been his main complaint, anyway, had he not been immediately distracted when he woke.

His eyes flew wide open when he recognized the smell. “Smoke.” His voice was a hoarse whisper from what he assumed had been a long time of not talking-- then again, if this wasn’t a scheduled stop, then it could have been less than a month. Realizing this, he immediately felt dizzy. “Jack. Are you awake?”

Jack’s sleep had apparently been just a little deeper than Hic’s, so it took him a couple seconds to adjust. “What?” he groggily tried to sit up, forgetting the restraints around him. “Ouch.”

“Jack. Do you smell that?”

“Did you fart or something?” There was a pause. “Oh my god, Hic. It’s smoke!” Hiccup heard his breathing grow more frantic. “Did we crash? Are we stuck?. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, Jack! I can’t get out either. Maybe someone will come by to help. Don’t-” he paused just as Jack started to shout for someone to help. “Please don’t do that. It’s really loud in here.”

“Sorry.” Jack’s voice leveled a bit, but the note of panic that had been there remained. “Oh my god, I just want to get out.”

“Me too,” Hiccup’s heart was pounding against his ribcage. He wished his arms hadn’t been secured to the bed so he could pound on the dome over his head to try to attract someone-- anyone-- to come and help them.

They didn’t really have to wait for long. The attendant who had secured them appeared next to the stasis chamber and peered in at them. He turned away and a couple seconds later the dome cracked open slightly. As he lifted it, he immediately started talking quickly. “I’m glad I found you two before anything else happened. The ship collided with a chunk of space debris, so the life support systems malfunctioned, and… well, now you’re awake.” He frowned as he undid the few straps that remained. “Your stats seem to be fine, but are you both feeling okay? We need to make sure that nothing else happened while you were under.”

Jack shivered as he sat up, clasping his arms around his bare chest. “I’m freezing!”

“That’s normal, you were pretty much frozen. That’s how we keep you young.” He glanced over to Hiccup before moving to help him out of the restraints. “How are you doing, then?”

“I’m cold too. Where are my clothes?”

The worker exhaled, his cheeks puffing out with the deep breath. “Was your luggage in the cargo hold?”

Jack nodded slowly. “That’s not gone, is it?”

Hiccup stretched out his arms while the attendant spoke, glad the straps that had restrained him were finally gone. “It’s… difficult to say. It’s not gone completely, but we can’t get there, because the only connecting route was smashed by the debris.”

Realizing that all Jack could do was stare angrily, Hiccup spoke up in response. “Is there something else we can wear?”

“Yeah, we store extra uniforms underneath the beds. Maybe I can recruit you to do a little spacewalk to help me check on the other passengers in a bit.”

“There are... Passengers? On the other side of the ship?”

“We split things up in case of emergencies like this one. The only problem is that the main crew is stationed on that side of the ship, and we need to find them.” Taking a step back, the man nodded. “Nice boxers, gentlemen, but I’d be more than happy to see you in the rest of your clothes.” He slid open a drawer behind Jack’s feet, making the blonde step out of the way so he could retrieve two bundles and tossed them to each of them. “Get dressed. I’ll be back as quick as you can say ‘space junk’.”

* * *

 

Staring out through the hull, the situation became crushingly real.

The ship hadn’t been split in half, but to say it was in one piece would have been a stretch of the imagination. The main central hub had been smashed through by something enormous-- pieces of it were still visible floating between the ship, which seemed to be nearly stationary.

Not that that meant much. They could have still been moving at a thousand miles an hour, and it would look like they were sitting still.

But the ship was nearly torn in half. Barely held together by metal and wiring, it was very clear that anyone present on the other half of the ship was either gone or would be if they weren’t helped soon.

“We’re lucky,” the attendant who had helped Jack and Hiccup had said. “Our backup power supply wasn’t damaged, but you see that over there?” He pointed through the window at a piece of equipment that was drifting away from the silent half of the ship. “That’s what they should be running on.”

Hiccup gulped, a wave of nausea sweeping over him. “Will we be able to make it all the way to Titan?”

“Maybe. It’ll take a bit longer since we’re operating with less power, but it’s possible.”

Jack turned away from the hull, arms crossed in front of him. “This is--”

“Unreal,” Hiccup finished. “I don’t want it to be real.”

The attendant shrugged. “Too bad, because here we are.” He backed away from the hull and leaned against a table in the center of the small room. “There are other passengers here on our side, but they aren’t quite in as good of shape as you two. Something tells me that the fact you were in a larger stasis chamber means you were drawing more power.”

Jack stood taller and glared at him. “Are you saying it’s our fault? Because I swear to everything on this Earth, if you try to guilt me into--”

“Calm yourself, mate!” The man raised his hands defensively. “I’m just saying you’re lucky is all.” He looked between the two of them and spoke again, his voice cautious. “All I’m saying is that you’re a bit more fit for doing work around here than the others are. You’ve been on your feet for a couple hours longer.”

“Yeah, and speaking of hours, how long? How far are we from Earth?” Jack crossed his arms again, blinking rapidly while his face reddened. “I want you to tell me if you know.”

“Look, I would if I could. But I can’t. It’s… The clocks are powered on the main deck. On the bridge. So when we got hit--”

“We don’t know how long it’s been,” Hiccup realized.

The attendant nodded. “We don’t have any markers of time, and we can’t exactly mark ourselves in space either, because we have all our coordinates on the bridge as well.”

Jack swallowed His voice came out in a harsh whisper. “And the bridge is completely gone?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s gone, but it’s not really in the best shape. We’d have to find it first.”

Hiccup frowned. “There’s… On a ship this big, there has to be some sort of backup computer. Something that we could run everything on. You can’t just build something this big and not have backup, especially if we’re planning to land.”

“Well, obviously there’s that, but normally it’s connected to the main server. We’d have to have all the tech from that in order to access the system again.”

“Unbelievable.” Jack turned toward the window again, watching as a smaller piece of debris floated through space in front of them. “I don’t want to give up.”

Hiccup recognised the twinge of emotion in his husband’s voice as the start of tears, and he knew that he couldn’t just let things be. “We’re not going to give up.” Turning to the attendant again, he crossed his arms, hoping it hid some of his anxiety and fear. “You said something about us helping with a spacewalk.”

The man’s eyebrows raised. “I was kind of joking, but if you’re up for it--”

“It’s either get things operational again or we die out here, and I for one want to stay alive.”

* * *

 

Twelve spacesuits remained intact on the half of the ship Hiccup and Jack were on. As Hiccup slipped into one of them, he heard Jack chortle. “Are you making fun of me?”

“Well, you do look a little beefier,” Jack remarked, gazing through his own bubble helmet. “Plus… LIke you said, it’s like my movies. I am in space, and I’m about to see it all.”

“Don’t go getting all romantic about this on me, now,” the attendant grumbled as he clicked the helmet over Hiccup’s head. “Space is pretty, but it’s not Wall-E out there.”

“Wait,” Jack said, turning toward the man. “You liked Wall-E?”

“I thought it was all right. The music was good.”

Hiccup shook his head as he heard them. “Jack. Is my microphone working?”

Jack nodded. “This is cool. Life-and-death, but also cool.” His voice came in through the speakers in Hiccup’s helmet, and the worker who was with them nodded in approval.

“Looks like they’re still connected to the headset. Glad to hear your voices.” He ushered them toward a large sealed door and handed Jack a large bundle of cable. “You probably know you need this, but hook it just inside the airlock. There should be another hook outside, and I need you to keep a firm grasp on the ship at all times.” He glanced at Hiccup. “That goes for both of you.” He handed Hiccup a cable as well. “Don’t try to do any jumping around, and make sure that you’re connected to the security cable. At all times.”

Jack nodded, and his voice came through to Hiccup’s ears. “Will do.”

“All right. I’ve already told you what to look for to find the main computer, but if you need a refresher, I’m always on the microphone. Got it?”

Hiccup nodded this time. He felt himself sweating, and knew he would not appreciate that once he reached the chilly exterior.

The first set of the airlock doors opened easily, and the man reminded them again to be sure to hook their security lines onto the ship. When they had, he spoke up again. “I’m opening the doors in three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

* * *

 

Hiccup knew that space didn’t have any sound. That’s something he had constantly heard Jack talk about when they were in movies. He would complain about how inaccurate an explosion was, or maybe how ridiculous the sound of movement was. It’s not like he wasn’t prepared for the silence, theoretically.

But in practice, it was an enormous shock. Once the air had escaped the airlock and they had moved beyond the doors, there was absolutely nothing. even the flashes of electricity from the broken half of the ship were totally silent.

“Wow,” he heard Jack whisper. That sudden sound alone would have knocked him off his feet if he had been standing anywhere. “This is amazing.”

“That’s space, kid,” the attendant’s voice piped through both their helmets. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Hic, you have to turn around. This is amazing.” Hiccup rotated himself, grabbing at the security line for assistance. His original view had been the wreckage of the back of the ship, but as he rotated, his field of vision opened up. Aside from occasional dark pieces of wreckage, there was absolutely nothing to obstruct his view.

There was nothing-- nothing but stars.

For what seemed like forever, he gazed out over the emptiness in absolute awe, only the sound of breathing inside his cramped spacesuit reaching his ears.

Nothing could possibly compare.

“Not to push you or anything,” the attendant’s voice interjected from the speaker behind Hiccup’s head, “but you do have half a colony to try to rescue from certain death. No pressure or anything.”

“Yeah, we should move,” Jack said resignedly.

Hiccup turned again and maneuvered along the hollow shell of the ship, following closely behind his husband, whose despondence from earlier had seemingly been replaced by an almost unsettling giddiness for everything that was around him.

Moving along the shell of the ship made Hiccup realize just how  fragile the connection between the two halves was. The sounds of the creaking metal traveled up his arms and echoed, a mourning cry of a dying vessel. Progress across the gap was slow, and it was very clear that there was very little left of the wreckage.

 _I’m so lucky_ , Hiccup realized as what looked like other stasis chambers come into view. The closer he got to them, the more he thanked whatever had steered the debris to the opposite end of the ship. Stasis chambers with the lids ajar and pallid remained connected to the walls and floor, nearly naked passengers with blue, dry skin still secured in. _They never knew they died,_  he realized as he saw their completely calm faces.

“We need to get out of this area,” Jack whispered. “I don’t like looking at this.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup agreed. “Move faster so I can get past you.”

The attendant’s voice crackled in their headsets. “Be sure you hook in again once you reach the other side. I don’t want you to run out of line, but I want to make sure you have something keeping you safe.”

“Will do,” Jack replied. “Also, you’re breaking up a little-- are we too far away?”

“Either that or it’s just your angle. Maybe there’s some interference. Either way, the faster we can hear each other again, the better.” He paused while they moved, and spoke again. “If you can find more security line, connect to it. I don’t want you relying on anything that’s just brought across this gap, just in case something else hits.”

“Shouldn’t we be trying not to connect to the damaged half of the ship?” Jack argued. “If we don’t have a connection to you and something crashes, we’ll be stuck on that side on our own.”

“Eh.” The attendant’s voice crackled a little more. “Both are possibilities. Bet they didn’t cover that when you did spacewalk training back home, did they?”

“Not really…” Jack cursed. “Okay, we’ll connect to something if we find it. Just in case.”

“Just be smart. I think I’m losing connection. If you need any clarification right now, ask before it’s too late.”

“I think I can see the main terminal from here,” Hiccup observed. “It must have been shoved against this side when the debris came through.”

“Good. Be sure to--” There was more static, and the man’s voice cut out briefly-- “Good luck.”

That suffocating silence that can only be found in space lingered for a few seconds while Jack and Hiccup realized that they were alone.

“Well.” Hiccup could hear Jack huff through his nose. “Let’s do this quickly.”

* * *

 

The main console from the bridge had come detached. It was still connected by loose wires and a single metal beam, but it was missing the great majority of what was necessary to power it at all.

“We’re here to pick up the main drive and the backup. That’s it. Right?” Jack stared at the dead machine and the mess of wires hopelessly. “Where do we even start?”

Hiccup stepped closer to the console, staring through the tangled mess of the back of the wires. “He said it should be about the size of a basketball…?” Sweeping aside a dense bundle of cables, Hiccup spotted something that fit the description. “Wow, it’s… It’s still running.”

“He said it would have an internal power source. probably a backup battery to keep the clock running.” Jack knelt down and looked around Hiccup’s shoulder. “I guess it sort of matches the description.”

“Well, I don’t see another one in there, and i think we need to get back. We’ve got limited oxygen.” Reaching around the cables, Hiccup grabbed ahold of the box and detached any of the connecting wired from its surface. “Done. Let’s get back to the other side.”

Jack looked down at him and smiled. “You know, you’re saving everyone’s lives, you know that?”

Hiccup flushed. “I’m just… Doing what I should. I need to make it to Titan, because I need to spend more of my life with you.”

“I’d be more than happy to stay with you no matter where we go.”

They both smiled.

“Wrong place, I suppose,” Jack mumbled after a second. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, just let me hook this onto my suit-- there.” Hiccup stood slowly. “I’m good to go.”

“I’ll stick behind you. We don’t want to drop that thing.”

As they slowly carried themselves across the ship’s hull, which seemed to be growing more strained by the second, a wave of pain knocked Hiccup breathless. “Oh!” he gasped quickly, clutching at his ribcage.

“What is it, Hic? You doing okay?”

“I’m…” he breathed in slowly. “I’m okay. I just.. Something started hurting.”

“Check your oxygen. You should be good, but if you’re low, we need to hurry. I don’t want to lose you this close to the end.”

Hiccup glanced down at the little gauge in the corner of his helmet. “I think I’m doing all right. It’s… a little messed up, the gauge is wiggling back and forth a little, but we’re almost back. We’ll have the tech guy check it.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We can do that.” Jack’s breathing sounded in Hiccup’s ear. “Just… Let me know.”

They continued forward for a while, the airlock slowly approaching. Jack spoke to the attendant to make sure their connection was open again.

“Sure thing, mate. I can hear you loud and clear. Had a bit of a problem back there, but we should be fine.”

Hiccup nodded before he realized that he couldn’t be seen. “Yeah, We’re good now.” His lungs were still somewhat pained, and he glanced down at the oxygen meter. “Jack. It’s going up.”

“What is? Is this really the time for that?”

“No, I mean, my oxygen meter! It’s-- it’s higher than it was before! It says I’m gaining air, it must be broken--” Another shot of pain that should have knocked him to his knees forced his body to suddenly curl tightly, pain coursing his muscles and airways.

“Hiccup! Are you okay?”

“I’m-- _AH!_ \-- No! No, I’m not! Help!” He cursed and squeezed his eyes shut, his lungs burning and retinas searing.

“All right, all right, We’re almost there; you’ll be fine,” the attendant soothed. “Don’t worry, pal, you’re gonna be all right. I just need you to come through.”

He felt pressure behind him, what must have been Jack pushing him forward, and he squeezed his eyes shut because even that little touch _hurt_. Before he had time to register that there was light right in front of his eyes, he was in the airlock, and the gravity was back. He crawled into the ship, gasping and choking on  the stagnant air in his helmet. When the door closed, he unclasped the helmet, and he felt sweet air pouring into his lungs---

* * *

 

“Hic. Hiccup. It’s gonna be okay.” A gentle hand caressed the back of Hiccup’s head. “You’re gonna be fine. You just reacted badly to the reoxygenation, but you’ll be fine.”

“See? I told you he just had to come though,” the attendant’s voice chimed in behind Jack’s. “Sometimes stasis creates problems in people’s lungs. It’s probably that he’s not quite used to the gases we use to keep you under quite yet.”

Hiccup’s eyes slowly opened. He saw the edge of the stasis chamber, and he realized he wasn’t secured. He was in his underwear, and he was cold.

Lugs still burning, he shivered against the chilly air. “Are we safe? Did the backup make it?”

“What?”

Hiccup looked up at his husband, who had just spoken. “The ship. The spacewalk. Are we functional?”

Jack nodded slowly. “That we are. We’re safe. Nothing bad has happened.”

Hiccup’s muscles relaxed, and he became acutely aware of how hard his heart was pounding. “So at least this half is still functional.”

The attendant raised an eyebrow. “You know what? ” He tapped Jack on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you with him for a little while, alright?”

Jack nodded. “Thanks, Ash.” The attendant wandered to the next stasis chamber, and the sounds of the hiss of oxygen began again.

Hiccup swallowed. “I was so scared, Jack. I didn’t want to lose you. I didn’t want to die.”

His vision blurred with tears, and he felt Jack pull him into a hug again. “Shh, Hic, It’s all right. It’s okay.” He kissed his husband’s forehead gently. “You aren’t going to lose me.” He squeezed Hiccup’s shoulders gently. “Let’s get your clothes on. I want to show you something that will cheer you up.”

Hiccup sniffed and nodded into Jack’s shoulder, then eased his way out of the chamber, legs shaking. Jack handed him one of the temporary outfits that had been stored under the chamber, and helped Hiccup dress quickly, supporting him with an arm over his shoulder as they walked down the hall. As they neared the hull through which Hiccup remembered seeing the damage to the other half of the ship through, the man stared out in shock.

“It’s… It’s all in one piece.” He took a step toward the window. “It was totally torn to pieces, and it was barely kept together, but now…” He turned to look at Jack. “What happened?”

“I think…” Jack pursed his lips. “One of the possible side effects of stasis sleep is affected dream patterns. You might have had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Hiccup turned again to look out at the rest of the ship. “So… All of that… It was a dream?”

Jack took a step and put his arm around Hiccup’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Nightmares are… hard.” He pointed out a different direction. “But look, Hic. Look at the stars.”

He turned and stared out again, at the constellations that had looked so different in his dream. “It’s beautiful, Jack.”

He leaned in and laid his head on Jack’s shoulder. “We’ve come so far.”

Jack nodded and grasped Hiccup’s hand, his thumb stroking the palm. “And we’re well on our way.”


End file.
